Since her original introduction in comics, Frost has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including video games, animated television series, and merchandise such as trading cards.
[13] Emma Frost debuted in the Dark Phoenix Saga storyline in The Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980), created by writer Chris Claremont and artist co-writer John Byrne.
To prevent this, a resurrected, future-version of Jean used her powers as the White Phoenix of the Crown and telepathically reached through time to tell Cyclops it was ok to move on, declaring all she ever did was "die" on him and he deserved a chance to "live".
[64][65] Following the "Decimation" storyline, the student population drastically decreased, and Frost, without consulting Cyclops, decided to revamp the entire workings of the school.
[66] During the 2006 miniseries X-Men: Phoenix - Warsong, it was revealed that Frost's ova were the genetic templates used to clone thousands of identical female telepaths, five of which are the Stepford Cuckoos.
[78] During the final battle on Muir Island, she faced Exodus, stalemating him in a telepathic duel, until Dust was able to enter his body and scour his lungs with her sand form, incapacitating him.
[79] In the 2008 storyline "Divided We Stand", Frost and Scott vacationed in the Savage Land but soon left to answer a distress call made by Archangel from San Francisco.
[90] Following the Skrulls' defeat, she is introduced as a member of a secret cabal, consisting of herself, Norman Osborn, Doctor Doom, Loki, Namor and the Hood, who are manipulating events in their favor.
Frost recognizes that the threat will not end until Selene and her inner circle are permanently stopped, and orders X-Force to travel to Necrosha and kill them all, including Wither.
[117][118] Following Secret Wars and the restoration of Earth-616 prior to the Incursions, Emma Frost is among a small team of X-Men who come into contact with the Terrigen mists at Muir Island, where they found Jamie Madrox dead on the facility grounds.
[120] She declares war on the Inhumans when Beast reports that the Terrigen cloud will soon saturate and render earth as completely uninhabitable for mutants, believing they have no time to attempt negotiation.
[122] During the Secret Empire storyline, Emma is revealed to be the true leader of the mutant nation in New Tian, which is somewhere in California, following Hydra's takeover of the United States.
[124] When the time-displaced original X-Men rebel against New Tian's government, Emma has Xorn send a group of mutants after them, succeeding in capturing most of the team except for Jean and Jimmy Hudson.
Following this, Emma promises to spend the necessary time to heal Christian's broken mind, taking on the role of head of the Frost International Company.
[127] Following Magneto's attack,[128] Emma talks the X-Men into taking out the Inner Circle members of the Hellfire Club, while she goes after Sebastian, the man who made her the White Queen so many years ago.
She is also a highly capable planner, an electronics expert, and can invent machines that grant various psionic abilities, such as "Multivac", a mutant locater capable of monitoring the psionic levels of mutants; the "Hallucinator" used to induce hypnotic hallucinations to brainwash others; the gun-like device that enabled her to exchange minds and powers with Storm; and the Mindtap mechanism which enhanced and enabled her Hellfire cohort Mastermind to project his illusions directly into the mind of the Phoenix.
[168][169] Additionally, she has also made investments in oil companies, Stark Industries, Wakandan Airways, Ben Nishmura's gamma research, Reed Richards' patent for unstable molecules and Cummings Aeronautics helicarrier project.
[172] As a member of the Phoenix Five, Emma Frost at one point telepathically scanned every single superhuman and human mind on the planet digging for the darkest of secrets and information.
[179] Sara Century of Syfy stated, "In the end, much of Emma’s sex appeal is based in her directness, her ability to compromise in impossible situations, and her deep understanding of establishing consent and boundaries with her partners.
Emma Frost is a beautiful, intelligent woman who helped lead the X-Men with the ruthless mind of a true businesswoman, but it’s her hidden compassion that informs much of her sexuality.
"[180] Emily Stachelczyk of Screen Rant called Emma Frost the "best anti-hero in the pantheon of Marvel Comics," writing, "She has always looked after herself and carefully manipulated the environment around her to her advantage.
Characters like Storm, Emma Frost, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, and Mystique, frequently shatter old-fashioned ideas about sex and gender through their strength, independence, leadership, and self-possession.
[185] Claire Napier of WomenWriteAboutComics said, "Emma Frost is remarkable because nobody—fan nor creator nor Marvel management—will ever say, “No, you are wrong for thinking that this character has been designed to imply eroticism.” She’s not a perfect construct, but she’s something of a relief.
In superhero comics—which he loves to remind us are about muscular men and large-breasted ladies in spandex and latex punching each other through walls—Emma Frost is established as a mouthpiece for those who would sit at the back, whispering, “Isn’t this all a bit rude?
"[194] Jo-Anne Rowney of Daily Mirror ranked Emma Frost 12th in their "Best Female Superheroes Of All Time" list, writing, "Step aside for this iconic lady, not only a complicated ice queen and staple of the X-Men comics, but she's also just a straight up badass.
Macro-level ideas regarding the soul, mutant resurrection, and the state of the mind are all explored in one way or another—anchored by the imminent danger to one of the X-Men's most iconic faces, and it makes for one very compelling mix.
Upon arriving, she scans Luke Cage's mind in New York informing the others that he survived the nuclear blast and that Ultron is using Vision as a conduit to control the world from the future.
She sold her telepathic abilities in services of mutant leaders and was eventually approached by Jubilee and Magneto to save Wolverine, who was mind-wiped by the Hellfire Club's Red Queen, Psylocke.
The Scarlet Witch changes reality into one where mutants are the dominant species ruled by the House of M, Emma Frost is a child therapist (one of her clients being Franklin Richards who was traumatized after his family died in a spaceship crash) and married to Scott Summers, a pilot.
As a nod to the risque nature of the mainstream White Queen and the Hellfire Club, this version of Emma has a bondage fetish, relishing being tied up during a prison break and telling her captor "tighter please.